Camp Arowhon
Parenting
Defining “Bullying”
By: Mara Kates, Assistant Director “Bully” has been the buzz word amongst parents and people who work with young people for the past few years now. And it’s great that we are so aware of our kids’ social and emotional well-being. And it’s great that we’re teaching kids that it’s ok to reach out and […]
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Supporting Anxious Kids
By Mara Kates, Assistant Director At camp, we get a unique epidemiological perspective on childhood afflictions. I am not a scientist but I would hazard a guess that rates of childhood anxiety are on the rise. Whether a kid has a clinically diagnosed anxiety disorder or is simply afraid of the dark, children (and their […]
ContinueStop Googling. Let’s Talk.
COLLEGE students tell me they know how to look someone in the eye and type on their phones at the same time, their split attention undetected. They say it’s a skill they mastered in middle school when they wanted to text in class without getting caught. Now they use it when they want to be […]
ContinueBoys and School, Not Always a Marriage Made in Heaven
He’s got a lot of energy… He’s always moving… He’s quite a handful…. Wow, is this guy going to the Olympics, he’s quite competitive…. Does he ever sit down? These comments are code for: Your son is difficult to manage in the classroom. Or program… Or play-date. When teachers or coaches or other parents say […]
ContinueParents as Dictators
Try an experiment. Ask your kids how much control they feel they have over their lives. You may be surprised. Because our kids tend to be so privileged, we erroneously assume they feel in control of their lives. We mistakenly equate privilege with control. But the two are profoundly different. Privilege means having lots of […]
ContinueSaying goodbye to campers… at the bus… at camp….
A Summer Camp Lesson: Good-bye, and Go Away, Thank You Very Much by JESSICA LAHEY in The Atlantic Three years ago, when he was eleven, my son Ben set down a very specific parental code of conduct […]
ContinueWhy is camp so good for kids?
I love my iPhone. I fondle it. I can’t seem to tolerate a nano-second without its electronic stimulation, so in lineups (waiting to pay for almost anything) or even the most minuscule of downtimes, I’m on my cherished device. Sound familiar? And we’re immigrants to the internet. Imagine how much more addictive it is for […]
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Worried about a disruptive child influencing your kid?
A powerful letter from teacher Amy Murray to the parents of her kindergarten students. Murray is the director of early childhood education at the Calgary French & International School and co-founder of #Kinderchat (www.kinderchat.net). The letter was originally published on her blog Miss Night’s Marbles: http://missnightmutters.com/2014/11/dear-parent-about-that-kid.html. Dear Parent: I know. You’re worried. Every day, your […]
ContinueWhat’s a bad mother?
Two of my friends – in the last week – have called themselves bad mothers in conversation with me. This is so far from okay that it makes me feel like exploding. Which kinda reminds me of how I felt when I asked my now 29-year-old daughter if I was good mother to her. She […]
ContinueCalming Down Kids Who Catastrophize
To Connect With Kids, Just Call ’em Like You See ’em by Dr. Chris Thurber As a parent, I sometimes find myself contradicting what my kids say. My 10-year-old son Sava, for example, has a tendency to catastrophize. When the LEGO structure he is building collapses, he’s likely to say something like, “I hate LEGOs. […]
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